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McCardel eyes record Channel swim crossing

Ultra-marathon swimmer Chloe McCardel has no fear of flesh-eating sea fleas, sharks or even ships, saying her record non-stop quadruple English Channel crossing bid is about pushing her body and mind to a new level.

The 32-year-old will set off later this month, hoping to become the first swimmer to achieve the 136km feat, which will take her upwards of 45 hours.

In 2015, McCardel joined an elite group of four to have completed a triple crossing of the icy channel with a fourth leg widely considered impossible.

McCardel admits she's nuts but wants to find out how far she can push herself, after being dragged out of the water almost unconscious following three crossings.

"It's the greatest endurance challenge in history and I've already got the longest open water swim in the ocean (124.4 kilometres in 41.5 hours), so I need to go further and have this desire to push the human body, mind and spirit," she said.

"It's been calling me since 2015 when I completed the triple crossing."

Despite her condition after three crossings, McCardel said she had changed her preparation which gave her confidence she could go further.

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"There's the waves, the wind, the cold water, the monotony of swimming, the repetition of my arms - it's all going to add up," said McCardel, who grew up looking up to open-water greats Des Renford and Susie Maroney.

"In my training, I've had to push myself to a new level to give myself a chance and I think I can do it."

The Melbourne athlete has spent plenty of hours swimming in Port Phillip Bay. But, she had never encountered flesh-eating crustaceans, which had devoured a young footballer's feet at the weekend while stood in the water.

"I live in East Brighton so I swim in that area a lot and I've never come across anything like it in the past decade although I don't walk around in it," she said.

"It was a huge shock; I've had skin infections and ear infections but I've never heard or seen anything like that before."